An Odd Slytherin
by wordsarethekeytothesoul
Summary: One-shot: Severus meets a Slytherin student who just doesn't seem to fit in, and yet still manages to bother him just like every other dunderhead he's taught.


**Hey, guys! This is a little story I promised to right for my sister when I unexpectedly got sorted into Slytherin on Pottermore. After staring at the computer screen in shock for about a millisecond, I jumped up and screamed, "Yes! Now I get to bother Snape!" so that is how this story was born. I haven't really proofread it much, other than a quick glance through, so if you see any mistakes, let me know and I'll fix it! Reviews would be greatly appreciated! I don't own Harry Potter, by the way. All those rights go to J. K. Rowling, that wonderfully spectacular person we all know and love. And now I present to you... **

...An Odd Slytherin

Severus Snape sat at the end of the large table at the front of the Great Hall. His head was propped up on his fist, and he stared blankly into space as he waited for the new students to be sorted for yet another school year at Hogwarts. He inwardly groaned at the thought of a whole new batch of dunderheads who would probably blow up a cauldron once a week, and waste his precious potions ingredients while they were at it.

Severus' sharp, black eyes swept over the group of first years as he surveyed their varying states of nervousness. Like usual, every single one of them was looking around the room with wide, timid eyes—

Severus froze for a second, and then frowned. His eyes had caught on small girl with long, curly brown hair. He had noticed her because, unlike the other first years, she looked positively delighted to be surrounded by strangers in a vast, looming castle hundreds of miles from her home. At the moment, this odd little girl was bouncing on the tips of her toes, catching the eyes of her soon-to-be fellow classmates and grinning widely at them. Quite a few of those eleven-year-olds were staring back at her like a snake had crawled out of her mouth.

Suddenly, the Great Hall went silent, and Severus looked up to see Minerva McGonagall placing the Sorting Hat on its stool. The hat opened its "mouth" and started to sing a new song, but Severus didn't hear a word of it. He had gotten distracted again by the little first year girl, this time because she had started swaying as the hat sang. Though Severus was too far away to hear, it looked like the girl was humming along as well.

At the end of the Sorting Hat's song, the girl stopped swaying and applauded so enthusiastically it hurt just to look at her. She was the last to stop clapping, which earned her a few more quizzical looks from students sitting at their house tables on either side of the first years. They all turned away from her, though, as Minerva opened a long scroll and began reading off the names of the soon-to-be new students.

Any time a student around the girl got called up to have the Sorting Hat placed on their heads, she gave them an annoyingly encouraging thumbs-up. Severus rolled his eyes and decided there was no doubt the girl was a Hufflepuff. Only Hufflepuffs smile as much as she did.

Finally, Minerva called out the name "O'Connor, Briana", and the girl leaped forward and nearly skipped down the aisle towards the Sorting Hat. The girl hopped eagerly onto the stool and grinned at Minerva. Several people laughed, and Minerva herself had on an amused smile as she placed the hat over the girl's tumbling mess of curls. The hat slipped over her small head and covered half of her face. All that could be seen was her excited smile that was growing wider every minute. Her legs, which missed the floor by several inches, swung lightly back and forth. Severus had expected the hat to instantly exclaim "HUFFLEPUFF!" the moment it touched the girl's head, but to his surprise, the hat deliberated over the girl for nearly a minute before it called across the silent hall-

"SLYTHERIN!"

The girl, beaming, took the Sorting Hat gently off her head and handed it to Minerva. Then she turned and actually did skip over to the table of cheering, and slightly awestruck, Slytherins. Although they were surprised, they recovered well, and were very friendly towards the bubbly girl.

Severus, however, was too shocked to do anything but stare slack-jawed at the newest edition to his house. He couldn't quite ignore the feeling of dread already forming in his gut.

* * *

The first week of classes had just ended and Severus was already dreaming of summer vacation, a time when Hogwarts is blessedly empty and, most importantly, quiet. The first years, of course, were a headache all on their own, but for some reason the second years hadn't been thoroughly scared out of their wits by him, therefore they were almost as energetic and irritating as the first years.

Severus sighed and sat heavily in the chair at his desk. Although there was a mound of homework sitting in front of him that needed to be graded, he couldn't bring himself to concentrate. All he could think about were those frustrating little first years. More specifically, a quirky little Slytherin named Briana O'Connor.

For some reason, the girl had decided to torture Severus by following him around all week, asking him every little question that popped in her head. Severus could still vividly remember the first conversation with her, the morning after the Sorting.

He had been heading towards the Great Hall for breakfast, his lessons plans for the week firmly in front of his face as he walked, when the girl had popped out of nowhere beside him. Severus quickly glanced at her before turning back to his lessons. She walked silently beside him for a moment, matching his brisk pace, which was like a jog for her little legs.

"You're Professor Snape, aren't you?" The question came out of the girl's mouth quite suddenly, as if it had building inside of her for a while. She had a soft, high voice that reminded Severus vaguely of a mouse. It had a lilting, musical quality to it that made her pleasant to listen to. It was the kind of voice that, even if she was speaking in another language, it made you want to sit and listen to her talk for hours.

Severus looked at her again, considering her, before nodding and turning back to his lesson plans once more. The girl was quiet again, before quietly saying, "My name's Briana, but you can call me Bree. Everybody does."

"I will call you by your last name and nothing else," Severus said smoothly.

"Oh, okay. My last name is O'Connor," the girl offered brightly. Severus could feel energy leaking off of her.

"I already know that, Miss O'Connor."

"Really? Well, you should know that I already know who you are, too. You're the Head of Slytherin House, and the Potions professor here. Someone told me last night that you really want the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. Is that true?"

Severus slowly looked up and turned towards the girl, his eyes narrowed. She was smiling and looking at him expectantly.

"I'm a very busy man," Severus drawled, his black eyes glinting coldly. _As if I'm going to answer that question! _Severus thought indignantly. "Good day, Miss O'Connor." With that, he turned and stalked away, his footsteps echoing across the corridor and his cloak swishing behind him. It was his famous walk that had frightened away hundreds of children.

"Bye, Professor Snape! See you later!" the girl's voice called out happily from behind him. Severus almost tripped over his own feet from shock. He barely managed to keep upright and regain his smooth composure until he reached the end of the hallway and disappeared from her view. By the time breakfast started, he was back to his usual distant, stony self around everyone. On the inside, however, he still felt unnerved. That same feeling of dread from the night before was back, and all he could think about was how un-frightened the girl was of him.

Severus was suddenly brought out of his reverie and back to the present when a loud knock sounded on his door. He sat up at his desk and cleared his throat before calling out, "Enter."

_Speak of the devil, and he shall appear _Severus thought as Briana O'Connor stepped into his classroom. "Good evening, Professor Snape!" she said, smiling her irritatingly bright smile at him, and approached his desk.

"What is it, Miss O'Connor?" Severus asked tiredly, feeling a headache coming on.

"I just wanted to tell you that you're a really excellent Potions teacher. Of course, I've never had any other Potions teachers besides you, so I don't really have anyone to judge off of, but I'm sure that you're the best out of all of them," the girl said. Her green eyes were sparkling even in the dim dungeon lights.

Her speech left Severus stunned for a moment. Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered that she had just complimented him. After staring at her blankly for a few seconds, Severus recovered and his defensive mechanisms kicked in. "You do realize that brown-nosing me will not get you any extra credit in my class, don't you?" Severus said icily. He put on his best disapproving-teacher look, the one that made even the bravest of Gryffindors shake like a leaf.

The girl's eyes grew wide and she shook her head quickly. It made Severus slightly dizzy to look at her. "Oh, Professor, that's not what I was doing at all! I only thought you should know!"

Severus paused again. He could feel his eyebrows wrinkling in confusion. "Why?" he asked, and he felt slightly embarrassed when he realized how incredulous he sounded.

The girl shrugged her shoulders and smiled at him again. "Everyone deserves to know when they're appreciated," she said simply. Then she turned and headed back towards the door of the classroom. She stopped at the exit and waved cheerfully at him before closing the door with a soft _click_ behind her.

Several minutes after she had left, Severus was still sitting at his desk, staring at the spot she had been standing, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that nothing he did seemed to scare that little girl.

About a month or so after school had started, everyone had fallen into a rhythm. There were no more panicked first years bursting into tears whenever they got lost, no more students showing up late to class. This was the time of year that Severus liked the most; when nobody got over-excited about anything because there was nothing to be over-excited about.

Or, at least, that was how it used to be.

Unfortunately, Briana O'Connor decided to break tradition.

She was, in Severus's mind, the most annoyingly happy person in the whole world. Nothing ever seemed to cause her to frown. Not even the most gruesome of Potions ingredients made her squirm. She just went along in class doing everything as she was told, and being bright and bubbly while she was at it.

Grudgingly, Severus had to admit that she was a rather talented Potions brewer, even at her age. In every class, she managed to brew perfect or almost perfect potions and still have plenty of time in class left over for her to bother him with her incessant chattering. He had taken to casually walking around the room whenever she was almost finished with her potion, planning it carefully so that he would be on the other side of the room when she was done. Then he would take his sweet time walking back over to his desk, where he would do his best to ignore her by grading papers. It didn't help that she chose to sit right in front of him in every class.

One fateful day that will probably always be remembered by Slytherins years after they've left Hogwarts had started off just like that: Briana being an eager student and Severus ignoring her.

Severus had been in a bad mood all day, and it didn't help that the first years were brewing a complicated potion that day. Three people had already blown up their cauldrons and had to be taken to the Hospital Wing for Madam Pomfrey to tend. However, Briana's potion was looking flawless, as usual. Therefore, Severus was a little surprised when he looked up and saw her hand waving in the air.

He stood up and approached her warily. "Yes, Miss O'Connor?"

"Sir, I was just wondering if you were alright," she said quietly. Severus's head twitched a little. Had he just heard her correctly?

"That is none of your business," he said sharply. "Why are you asking?"

"You just seem a little frustrated. Maybe if you smile more, things wouldn't bother you so much." Severus stared at her, his eyebrows arching high up on his forehead. Her face was perfectly open and friendly.

After a few seconds, Severus said in a rather choked voice, "Smiling does not solve problems."

"But it does help put things in a new perspective," she answered back, a grin easily falling onto her face, as if to prove her point.

The whole class was staring wide-eyed at their snarky Potions professor and the strange Slytherin girl. It was dead silent in the room. Severus opened and closed his mouth quite a few times before he finally said, in an odd voice, "5 points from Slytherin."

Every Slytherin turned and stared in shock at their professor. He seemed a little stricken at the words that had just come out of his mouth as well. Professor Snape had never, _ever _taken points from his own house before.

Briana tilted her head, and her eyebrows knitted together. It was the closest she had ever come to frowning. "What for, sir?"

Severus paused a second, the same thought running through his mind. Then, in a voice that sounded like he had a head cold, he said, "For being too happy." He cast a look around the room and noticed everyone staring at him. "Get back to work!" he said, sounding much more like himself. The students scrambled hastily for a minute before silenced descended around the classroom again. Severus sat at his desk, feeling rather dumbstruck, for the rest of the lesson.

* * *

The years passed and Briana O'Connor remained as frustratingly high-spirited as ever. No one could quite get over the fact that Professor Snape had taken five whole points from his own house, but they never spoke about it out loud unless he overheard and gave them a detention.

Severus could never quite figure out what to make of Briana. She was a very talented, very bright young witch. She excelled in all of her classes, especially potions. She never stopped smiling, and she constantly tried to share her liveliness with Severus, which irked him to no end.

Another odd thing he realized about her was that she made friends with everyone. She seemed to enjoying breaking all of the unspoken rules of Hogwarts, and became friends with students in every house, not just Slytherin. In her sixth year, she had the nerve to start dating a Muggle-born Gryffindor, causing quite an uproar. She seemed determined to upset the status-quo, and she was very successful at it.

Unfortunately, her success was not appreciated by everyone. Though many people were impressed with her courage and willingness to stand up against stereo types, there were some who were not amused.

That was the reason that Severus found himself hurrying towards the Hospital Wing, with Professor McGonagall at his heel. "No one was there to witness what happened, but Mr. Smith is very firm in accusing Mr. Hall and Mr. Miller," Minerva was saying.

"Yes, they are usually the first two names that come up when it involves Miss O'Connor," Severus said shortly.

Minerva glanced at her colleague. After a small hesitation, she declared, "You're worried about her."

"It sounds like a very serious injury, Minerva."

She didn't speak again, but Severus could feel her watching him. The two teachers rounded the last corner and burst into the ward. Madam Pomfrey stuck her head out of her office door and motioned them towards her. They approached her quietly, their eyes flickering towards the bed where a figure was visible.

"She fell down a flight of stairs," Madam Pomfrey said without preamble.

"Fell?" Severus asked gruffly.

The plump witch sighed and shook her head. "Pushed, tripped, I can't tell you for certain."

"Did she tell you anything about it?" Minerva asked, her eyes going wide.

"Didn't have a chance, I'm afraid. She went right to sleep once I had fed her all of her potions, the poor dear," Madam Pomfrey said, clucking softly.

Severus glanced over at the bed again. "What were her injuries?"

"Luckily, there were only a few broken bones. Nothing to serious. She's sleeping off the shock, I suppose. She's such a nice girl; she probably can't believe that there are people who actually do cruel things like that in the world."

Severus nodded absently. Madam Pomfrey's eyes moved back and forth between Severus, Minerva, and the cot where Briana was lying. "Severus," the medical witch said. He turned towards her, a frown evident on his face. "Why don't you stay here, and wait for her to wake up and tell you what happened?"

Severus sighed heavily. "I suppose that's the best thing to do. We want to have justice as quickly as possible." He turned and walked towards Briana, settling himself in the chair beside her bed.

He must have dozed off at some point, because he found himself sitting up suddenly in a pitch black room. He rubbed his eyes sleepily.

_"Professor," _whispered a quiet voice to his right.

Severus reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand. He lit it and the room filled with a pale blue glow. As he turned towards the bed, he found himself face to face with Briana. Her eyes were wide, and in the odd light he could just make out a dark shadow around one of them. Her curly hair was tied in pigtails, which were rather messy at the moment. She looked at him in a curious manner, obviously wondering what he was doing by her hospital bedside.

"You're awake," he stated dumbly. She smiled softly at the comment, but didn't speak. He cleared his throat and looked at her uncomfortably. "Are you willing to tell me what happened, Miss O'Connor?"

She tilted her head, as she always did when she was considering something, before answering in her soft, melodic voice, "Dylan Hall punched me in the face. When I moved backwards, Eric Miller tripped me and I fell down the stairs."

Severus blinked. "Well…thank you for informing me. Mr. Hall and Mr. Miller will be strictly disciplined for this." He stood up and headed for the hospital doors, resisting the urge to stretch. He was almost to the door when he stopped and turned back towards Briana. She was sitting up, watching him carefully. He hesitated a moment before saying, "Mr. Smith was quite worried about you. I'll tell him you're alright, if you wish."

Briana smiled and nodded. "Thank you," she said simply. Severus nodded briskly. He spun on his foot and marched out of the ward, wondering where the random surge of kindness had come from.

* * *

Finally, it was Briana O'Connor's 7th year. More importantly, it was her graduation day. When her name was called by Professor Dumbledore, she received the loudest round of applause out of any of the students. All the teachers, except Severus, of course, hugged her fondly and told her she was welcome back any time. Severus merely shook her hand and nodded silently.

After the ceremony, the chairs and tables were cleared away and everyone gathered together to say their last goodbyes. Severus excused himself from room and headed outside, towards the lake. It was a cool night, with a soft wind blowing. The full moon's reflection glittered on the surface of the Black Lake. Severus thought wistfully of his chambers beneath the lake.

He didn't hear her walk up behind him, so he nearly jumped out of his skin when she spoke.

"Aren't you lonely out here?"

Severus whirled around and glared at the intruder. "Miss O'Connor, that was precisely the point."

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to bother you," she said sincerely. It shocked him to look at her now, seventeen-years-old and very mature, and remember her from when she only 11 and just starting at Hogwarts.

"It's alright," Severus replied, turning back towards the lake.

"I only wanted to say thank you, for being such a wonderful teacher," she continued. He could hear the smile hidden in her voice, just like always.

She stood behind him for a moment, waiting for a reply. When he gave none, she simply said, "Goodbye, Professor." He heard her move to walk away.

"Miss O'Connor," he said, surprising himself when the words slipped out of his mouth.

"Yes?" came the bright answer from behind him.

"When you're looking for a job," he said slowly, "be sure to consider only the best offers. If you choose something that doesn't challenge you in any way other than forcing you to deal with imbeciles…" He paused and turned around to face her. Her face was shining eagerly. "I will be most disappointed," he finished. Briana grinned so brightly he had to fight the urge to squint.

"Of course, Professor," she said. He nodded and started to walk past her, thinking of heading towards his room, where peace and quiet would be waiting for him. He was startled quite thoroughly when Briana suddenly threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"Miss O'Connor, remove yourself from my person this instant!" he sputtered. Briana pulled away and smiled.

"I won't forget you, Professor," she said happily. Without another word, she turned and walked away, the familiar spring in her step. She rounded a corner and disappeared from Severus's view.

Severus shook his head and muttered under his breath about people inconsiderately violating his personal space, but not with his usual amount of venom. When he finally entered his chambers and sat down on his reading chair, he didn't immediately pick up a book to read. Instead, he allowed himself a small smile. It grew a bit bigger at the thought that he would finally have some peace and quiet at school again.

Unfortunately, he didn't realize that a year later, Harry Potter would be coming to Hogwarts.

THE END


End file.
